Melanie and I are simply big! We have booties, thighs and hips. We own it, and that's how we've been best friends since first grade. I hate to say it, but back then it was really hard for us to find beautiful plus-size fashion.

Today it is already easier to find plus-size fashion. Through Instagram especially, we found our idols from around the world to follow. Still, it isn't enough for us. When we go shopping on Saturdays in our dull small town in the Midwest, we hit limits at a size 14/16.

Plus-size fashion

Despite the new curvy top models, it hasn't reached our small-town corner of the country that we have plenty of curvy and plus-size women here who would all love to shop locally. So we sat in our cute café with a delicious slice of strawberry cake and the first rays of spring sunshine, and we made a decision. We'll do it better and found a start-up called "Plus-Size Fashion". We still have to find a cool name, and we'll simply start on Insta.

It's worth mentioning that we are both very good at sewing. It's a hobby of ours, a case of making a virtue out of necessity.

Plus-size fashion and the New York location

It was unbelievable. In a short time we had an enormous number of followers and could barely keep up with orders. Plus-size fashion is a big market. But we couldn't manage it like this.

Through an acquaintance, we learned that a young company in New York has maternity wear made locally. I got in touch with the owners and we hit it off right away. In short, we spent a weekend in New York and met the dedicated women.

They loved our page and encouraged us to start an online store. Since their studio kept gaining more seamstresses and there would also be room for us in the industrial area, we decided to take the big leap.

Plus-size fashion

We simply moved to New York. On the ground it went from zero to a thousand. In a short time we had three seamstresses on full-time staff.

Plus-size fashion - and the winners are ...

We are now known nationwide and even won an award from a well-known fashion magazine this year. We really hadn't expected it and were deeply moved. There was even prize money of $50,000.

The best part is that we keep changing the world for curvy women. Plus-size fashion can be incredibly beautiful and quite affordable. We make everything from bikinis to elaborate evening gowns. There's one thing we refused to give up: to this day, we still sew ourselves. But if things keep going like this, we could double in size within a few months.